SHIFTING PATHS: After a difficult time that involved many layoffs, Sphero, a Colorado-based startup that specializes in toy robotics, is shifting its focus to education—and it’s received $12 million in new funds to do so, TechCrunch reports. The new raise brings the company’s total funding to $119 million, according to Crunchbase.
The Daily Camera, a news outlet in Boulder, Colo., found that the money came via an equity offering and suggests that additional funding may be in the works. In a statement to TechCrunch, the company said the funding has and will come from both existing and new investors, which include Disney and Mercato Partners, and will be used for “working capital” as the company turns to a strategy at the “intersection of play and learning.”